Available in E-book, Hardback, Paperback, and Audiobook

A LIFE CHANGING EVENT

August 6, 2011 Exciting Event!

Last month I entered a writing contest hosted by NY Times best-selling author Ted Dekker. It was for a chance to win a scholarship to attend the Ragged Edge
writer's symposium. The event is stated to be a life changing
experience and I very much wanted to attend. Tickets to the two-day
event were priced at well over $600. I simply didn't have the funds to
purchase the tickets. So, instead I entered his contest and went on
about my life.

I am delighted to announce that I was chosen to recieve a 100% scholarship to attend!

I feel so very blessed and completely thankful for this amazing opportunity.

Next week it is off the Ragged Edge I go... and I know it's going to be
great. The welcome packet is titled "Welcome To The Asylum". You know
it isn't going to be your average writing conference when you see that!

I am sure I will have a lot to blog about upon my return... if they let us out of the asylum, that is.

RAGGED EDGE UPDATE:

All I
can say is that it was everything I dreamed of...

But nothing I expected and
beyond my wildest dreams! I will forever be a changed writer, and for
the better, might I add. Thank you Tosca Lee, Steven James, Robert
Liparulo, Eric Wilson, Ted Dekker, Kevin Kaiser, and everyone else that
made this the most incredible experience of my writing career thus far!

This is a video that Ed Keelan created
to show what we experienced.

Some of it is "an inside joke" shared
between the 100 souls in that room.And some of it is amazing
advice. All of it is incredible! Enjoy!

The Lasting Impact In The Days That Followed:

I Want To Be A Writerby D.M. Kilgore

Ted
promised a "conference" like no other... and he delivered. For two days
Ted Dekker, Tosca Lee, Robert Liparulo, Eric Wilson, and Steven James
bared not only their minds, but their hearts, their very souls. They
gave us exclusive insights, advice, and guidance that they had never
shared with others. They tested us, gave us exercises, and allowed us to
not only ask questions but to really intensely examine their worlds. We
laughed, we cried, we shared something that mere words could never
portray properly.

It would take volumes to describe what happened in that room.
They asked us not to share what they had given to us so willingly with
the outside world. We were now this elite group of insiders. Friendships
were formed by a bond of brotherhood, of something that others,
outsiders, could never understand. Ted said he was a blue monkey in a
brown monkey world. It might sound strange to the rest of the world, but
we not only understood, we related. We too were blue monkeys.

Many of us found ourselves relating to one of the authors a bit
deeper than the rest. For me, that author was Steven James. He took
time, after the conference, during lunch, on his way to and from the
conference room to listen to me, to mentor me, to indulge my curious
questions, and to fan the flames of what began as a whim but had grown
into a passionate fire. A fire that I was having a very hard time
containing.

I wanted to be a writer! I wanted it more than anything,
more than I had ever wanted it, and it felt like someone had ripped away
blinders and shown me something that had always been there. I was
emblazoned with the desire. There was no turning back. The path was
marked, I was on it, and there were no u-turns allowed.

Life on The Ragged Edge

It
had been a silly girl's whim, a child's pipedream, a simple housewife's
longing to do something outside the box. It had started with the
strangest of all possible catalysts, a beautiful friendship forged
because of a Facebook argument over a cancelled Red concert and one
truly filthy toilet 357 miles from my home. That friendship led me to a
writing contest, hosted by an author I'd never heard of at the time, and
yet somehow, I'd won a full scholarship to attend-- a $700 value, that
in the end was priceless.

Isn't life funny that way? The journey encompassed every emotion
known to man, and some I'm pretty sure I created on the spot. It brought
me to a room full of people I'd never met, and would have never known--
people that have since become my dearest friends, my staunchest
supporters - my tribe. We call ourselves the Blue Monkeys, of course.
Some of us have finished the book. Some of us are now published. Some of
us are still working on it. Many of us have collaborated on outside
projects that are still going strong.

It has led to blessing beyond my wildest dreams, connections in
the writing world that I would never have been privy to, possibilities
that were once beyond my reach. It has grown my faith, spurred me to
pursue other dreams that I thought were too outlandish to consider, and
taught me that I can do anything I put my mind to.

It has given me notebooks full of wisdom, sage advice, insider
secrets. It was a whim that led me to The Ragged Edge, to all the
blessing that have followed, but beyond all of that, what it has led to
inside of me-- the extreme passion that drives me to that ultimate
destination, that has been most life changing.

For you see, while standing on the edge I saw beyond the page,
beyond my hopes, beyond my fears. I looked out over that Ragged Edge and
I saw the bigger picture. The path I had taken stretched out behind me,
filled with delicate but fierce street signs that had guided me along
the way. The path is wide, straight, and flat from my new perspective,
my perch on this ledge of awareness.

My journey is not over, it's only just beginning. The winding
road does not lie behind me, it lies before me... daring me to charge
full speed ahead into the unknown beauty of a precise plan that I cannot
see. It beckons me, luring me with the secrets and promises of the
journey ahead, and on a whim...I'll take it.

It
is said, a journey of a thousand miles begins with just a single step
(Lao-tzu). I think the journey begins with a decision to take a chance.
Be it whim, fancy, or calculated logic, our decisions, no matter how
seemingly inconsequential, have the potential to radically effect our
lives and change our world forever.

A Year Later...

Ah,
as the very first National Ragged Blue Monkey day comes to a close...

I
pick up pen and paper (well keyboard and monitor) and write.

As a thank you to Ted Dekker, Tosca Lee, Robert Liparulo, Eric Wilson, and Steven James...

I shall kill someone- while wearing an awesome man chain, fabulously
dangerous shoes, and no shirt. After that, I think I'll put all of Eric
Wilson's books into my suitcase then dump them on the floor. I shall
conclude the festivities by tossing a small child into a ceiling fan. And as a thank you to Kevin Kaiser... I will accomplish all of the above while talking like Yoda. ^.^

You just had to be there to understand, *giggle*

A Year Ago

by D.M. Kilgore

They stood upon the Ragged Edge, With hopeful hearts and some very human insecurities.

They came from every corner of the map,
From all age groups and backgrounds.

A strange menagerie of creatures,
Destined for something they could not yet grasp.

They listened aptly as the masters spoke of struggles and triumphs...And they weighed themselves with every word.

Am I good enough, am I strong enough?
Do I have what it takes?

How bad do I want this... this life on the edge?

Those that stayed and listened laughed,
And cried, but mostly, they understood.

They had been warned that they might never be the same.

And they were not.

They left as something more than what they came as.Playfully, they called their new selves "blue monkeys".

They formed a support group, a way to keep in touch and on track.Boldly their war-cry rang out, "Scream! Bleed! Finish the book!"

And so it began.

But it was to be so much more.Just like their days on the Edge.

War-cries continued but among them arose,
"Hear me!" "Understand me!" "Pray for me!"

And they did.
They heard. They understood. And they prayed.

Their hearts beating as one tribe.
Because, beneath the monkey business grew the depth of their purpose.

Not only were they here to write,
But to share, to encourage, to love, and to grow.

As they began to share their stories- their true stories,
of how they arrived At the Edge,
of what their lives had brought them to and through,

Clarity emerged.

Indeed, they had been destined to meet at that wonderful, pivotal place
Where all things work together for good.

Some have finished the book.And some have not.

Some will.And some will not.

But however their stories may end, it shall always be true...

Their days on The Edge spawned these Monkeys of Blue.

I love these Blue Monkeys so very much!

The RE:union 2014

Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words...

Best Night Ever?

You better believe it!!!

To be continued ...

Content may not be copied, reprinted, or used in any waywithout the express permission of D.M. Kilgore.
All work on this website is copyright protected and is the sole property of D.M. Kilgore unless otherwise stated.